Macomb County's Public Works Office said Thursday it plans to sell a vacant 9-acre parcel of land in Macomb Township to a developer for $3.5 million.

The county received an offer in an auction to purchase the property from a private company that plans to build luxury apartments on the site, according to Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller. The auction was held Wednesday.

Miller also said the sale will be the third property her office has sold since she took office in January 2017.

“We’re not in the business of holding on to land and doing nothing with it for decades," Miller said in a statement. "My goal is to sell these excess properties, get them back on the tax roll and let them be developed in a way that benefits the community.”

Miller said the buyer of the property, located on the northwest corner of the intersection, has three months to conduct a due diligence review before finalizing the transaction.

The land is currently owned by the Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District, which purchased the land for $2.5 million about 20 years ago. The Macomb Interceptor is a pipeline that transports sewage from 11 northern Macomb County communities into a network that leads to a wastewater treatment plant in Detroit operated by the Great Lakes Water Authority. It serves more than 500,000 Macomb County residents.

The commissioner said revenues from the sale will be used for the ongoing maintenance of the drainage district's assets.

One of the parcels Miller's office sold earlier is a lot at the corner of 21 Mile and Sugarbush roads in Chesterfield Township. The public works office sold it to the township for $100,000 and it's slated to be the site of a new library, according to Miller.

The other is a 4.5-acre property west of Ryan Road between 19 Mile and Hall roads in Sterling Heights. It was sold to a developer for $250,000 and luxury homes are going to be built on it, she said.

The Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District owned both of the parcels.

“This office is not in the land business," Miller said. "We are in the drain business. These sales will contribute to the economic prosperity in our community while providing additional funds for our drains. The public is the big winner today.”